Last Sunday evening, 5 July, I attended a delightful piano recital entitled Piano Classics. The concert formed part of the Palace Concerts series which I now understand started at the end of March earlier this year. Sunday's recital featured the talented Gozitan pianist Francis Camilleri. What drew me to go to the concert was Francis as I had heard him play before and loved his interpretations.
The beautiful surroundings of Villa Corinthia provided an elegant and intimate setting for an evening of classical music.
One of my sisters who accompanied me had had their marriage dinner in that very room. Just family members, the Spanish ladies in their mantillas. I remember the Corinthia had flown out trout for the occasion. We are talking over 60 years ago. It was memorable. Small is indeed beautiful.
Last Sunday's programme was beautifully balanced moving from the drama of Bach and Busoni to the poetry of Beethoven, Debussy, and Chopin.
Francis Camilleri's playing was sensitive and refined, bringing out the unique character of each composition. The programme opened with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, in the celebrated piano transcription by Ferruccio Busoni, a work full of drama and virtuosity. It was followed by one of Beethoven's star sonatas, The Moonlight, whose haunting and reflective opening movement captivated the audience.
The second part of the recital explored the colourful world of Claude Debussy. Among the highlights were the much-loved Clair de Lune, the witty and entertaining Minstrels and Général Lavine - Eccentric, and the playful Golliwog's Cakewalk. These works demonstrated Debussy's gift for creating vivid musical pictures and atmospheric sound worlds.
A piece by our own Joseph Vella - Rapsodija Maltija Op. 26B followed. I am fairly familiar with the works of Charles Camilleri and was well acquainted with him and his wife Doris. As we know Camilleri wrote many works based on Maltese folk tunes and Vella's piece sounded similar. I only realised it was Vella and not Camilleri when I glanced at the programme. Francis's doctoral thesis was based on Vella's piano works after all, Vella was a fellow Gozitan and passed away in 2018. Francis later told me that Vella only wrote two pieces based on Maltese folk tunes, this and a work for solo mandolin.
I particularly enjoyed Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor, which combines lyrical beauty with deep emotion. It became even more popular after it was played by the Jewish pianist in that heart-wrenching film The Piano. It is a film which is not easily forgotten (mind you I did watch it four times). When the German soldier, destruction all round, asked the pianist to play something he played this nocturne. The German soldier was so moved by the music that he saved the pianist's life.
This popular nocturne was followed by Chopin's heroic Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, a powerful and uplifting work that ended the evening in a triumphant spirit.
The concert was both relaxing and inspiring, and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to hear such beautiful music performed by an accomplished young pianist. It was a memorable summer evening and a wonderful celebration of some of the finest works in the piano repertoire.
The pieces I love tend to stay in the mind and the heart long after the last note has faded.
This was by no means the end of the evening. A reception followed. Unlike normal concerts once the music ended you did not leave with just a few words exchanged with a couple of acquaintances. No. Far from it. After congratulating the pianist I was introduced to his fiancée Gabrielle, who is studying medicine, his sister Maria Chiara and mother Antoinette.
There were a number of guests I had known for years or was at school with, and this was an occasion to catch up.
The time had come for drinks and elegant food. I cannot call them canapés for many were more substantial but also easy to handle. The ambience was friendly and relaxed.
Drinks and delicacies kept on being served generously and deliciously. Finally it was late and most people, tired but happy, started leaving. Some of us stayed to the very end talking mostly.
When there were just a handful of us I asked Francis if he would play us one last encore. He sat down gently and played Schubert's Impromptu op. 90 no. 3 in Gb Major. It is actually one of his favourite pieces to play, especially as an encore, he told me. Schubert is also a favourite composer of his alongside Beethoven.
And so, a lovely evening came to an end. I said to my sister 'This is the sort of evening I enjoy. It was what I would imagine an 18th and 19th century salon would have been like. ' She agreed. We don't always.
The music was immediate and personal.
In Vienna, composers like Franz Schubert regularly gathered with friends for "Schubertiade" events to play, sing, and recite poetry. In Paris, the salons hosted by individuals like Gioachino Rossini, Countess Marie d'Agoult, and Winnaretta Singer (an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune) helped launch the careers of giants like Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Gabriel Fauré.
How brilliant to start something similar in Malta, in the 21st century at the always elegant Corinthia Palace. The Corinthia, always ahead of the posse.
The next event, Summertime Classics Alfresco, will be held on Saturday 30th August. A 12-piece Chamber concert orchestra will play for patrons beneath the stars in Corinthia Palace's Secret Garden.
Hmm! I must say, Secret Garden sounds very mysterious. I love mystery.